South Mainland Notebook 07.08.09

The annual Mind Your Head Fun Run and Walk around Spiggie takes place on Sunday.

Now in its fourth year, this South Mainland event is always keenly anticipated, and folk from all over Shetland and beyond are invited to come along and enjoy some healthy exercise and a great day out.

Participants can walk or run five or 10 kilometres. Pre-registration is now closed, but you can still register on the day between 12.45pm and 1.45pm at Boddam Sports Field. The start time is 2pm. The entry fee for adults and the over-12s is £10. There is no charge for under 12s.

All those who take part will receive a T-shirt, either on the day or afterwards, depending on demand. There are activities for kids in Boddam Hall from 2pm to 5.30pm, and teas too, since you’ll probably have worked up an appetite!

The organisers are grateful to the Sumburgh Hotel for sponsoring this year’s event. To find out more visit www.mindyourhead.org.uk or call (01950) 477849.

Also in aid of Mind Your Head, copies of Alan Jamieson and Niall Cruickshank’s CD Kindred Spirits are now available again at local shops from Cunningsburgh south and, for the first time, at High Level Music in Lerwick.

Storytelling evening

What better setting than the Crofthouse Museum for listening to traditional tales?

Here you can relive how things would have been for crofting families in the 19th century, when grandparents, parents and children huddled around the hearth and whiled away the long winter nights with stories of feuds, invaders and the mischievous occupants of the supernatural world.

And who better to take you back to that time than native Shetlander and Bigton resident Elma Johnson, who remembers some of these yarns from her own childhood, and has been recounting them for over 20 years?

On Monday evening this award-winning storyteller will be performing at the Crofthouse Museum from 7pm to 9pm. There will be fiddle music as well, and traditional dancing. The event, entitled “A Night by the Fireside”, costs £12 for adults and £6 for children under twelve and concessions. To book call (01595) 695057.

The Crofthouse Museum is open daily from 10am to 1pm and from 2pm to 5pm until the end of September. Admission is free.

Making jewellery

Keith Prosser and Tony Sherratt of Timezone and the Viking Unst Project will be at Old Scatness from Sunday to Tuesday, offering a range of activities.

Scott Miller of Hnoss Jewellery will also be there on Sunday and Monday, making jewellery using Viking tools and techniques. His works in silver and bronze take their inspiration from Viking treasure hoards that have been discovered in Britain and Scandinavia.

Old Scatness is open from Sunday to Thursday from 10am to 5pm. For further details phone (01950) 461869.

Desperately seeking Patrick

Between 1946 and 1968 English composer Pat Shaw made many trips to Shetland, during which he travelled around collecting and writing songs and tunes.

He was an important influence on country dancing in Britain, Europe and the United States, and his flamboyant personality makes it possible that tales about him still linger on here.

Brenda Godrich, who is collating a memoir of Pat, will be in Shetland until Saturday 15th August. She is eager to talk to anyone who remembers him, or hearing about him. Phone her on 07976 204613 or 07771 746783.

Puffin Party to go ahead

Now you see them, now you don’t! Like stars on Oscar Night, the puffins are keeping us guessing as to whether or not they will be attending the RSPB’s Puffin Party at Sumburgh Head tomorrow.

But even if the puffins are otherwise engaged, the party will take place between 11am and 4pm, with lots to see and do. The event is also celebrating the Great Minds and Innovations theme of Homecoming Scotland, and at 12pm and 3pm Chris Dyer of Shetland Amenity Trust will be telling the fascinating story of Sumburgh during the Second World War.